


The Flat

by FloreatCastellum



Series: Slice of Life One-Shots [12]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 10:14:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18636097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloreatCastellum/pseuds/FloreatCastellum
Summary: Ginny is fresh out of Hogwarts, and has dared to step into her brother's filthy flat to see Harry.





	The Flat

She’d gone to their little flat above the shop and been almost impressed by the amount of washing up piled precariously by the sink. ‘You can just use magic, it would take you two seconds,’ she said to George.

‘Wouldn’t be a real bachelor pad if there wasn’t a huge fucking mess everywhere,’ he’d said with a shrug, still playing with a deck of cards.

‘You’re the only bachelor,’ she said.

‘You know what I meant. Want a game of exploding snap?’ he asked, lounging on the sofa.

‘Where?’ she said, gesturing to the coffee table covered in pizza boxes, the piles of clothes scattered across the floor, the broomstick repair kit and the smear of handle polish on the rug.

‘Just use magic, it would take you two seconds,’ he said grinning at her.

She rolled her eyes, flopped down on the other sofa (which had a pile of surprisingly clean laundry on it) and checked her watch. ‘Are Ron and Harry usually back this late? They did know I was coming.’

‘Aww,’ said George patronisingly, tilting his head. ‘Excited to see your boyfriend?’

‘Shut up.’

He stretched out a foot and nudged her. ‘Excited to see him, Gin-Gin? Your Chosen Boyfriend?’

She smacked his leg. ‘Give it a rest.’

‘Goodness, you are uptight. Three whole days after finishing Hogwarts and you’re round here gagging for it. Couldn’t get any privacy when he came round to the Burrow the day you got home? Has it been since Easter since you had a good shag?’

‘Oh, gross,’ she said revolted as he sniggered. ‘Why can’t you be like Ron and just avoid that whole issue around me altogether?’

‘I’ve been living with him and Ron all year, to be honest I think both of them could do with a good shag,’ he said.

‘Haven’t you enjoyed it?’

‘Sure I have,’ he said, shuffling the cards absentmindedly. ‘We have a good laugh, and on their days off they help out in the shop. And it was good of them to… You know, keep me company.’ There was an awkward kind of pause, a painful jolt in her stomach that seemed to say ‘Fred’. ‘But you know,’ George continued loudly, forcing the bravado, ‘they both take awfully long showers-’

‘Oh, stop!’ she cried, chucking a cushion at him.

He grinned at her, the cards flicking smoothly from one hand to another. When she glanced at her watch again, he rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t panic, he’ll be on his way. They had a raid this afternoon, it’s probably gone on longer than they were expecting.’

‘Right, yeah,’ she said, her stomach twisting.

‘Mum expecting you back?’ he asked lightly, his eyes glinting. ‘Is that what you’re worried about? You won’t have time to make the Boy-Who-Lived a man?’

‘No,’ she said tensely. ‘Actually… She said I could stay over.’

He raised his eyebrows, a surprised chuckle making his shoulders shake. ‘You’re kidding? Our mum? I assumed she’d have you locked up in the Burrow after Easter.’

She shot him a look. ‘I am an adult now, And anyway, we weren’t doing anything-’

‘Yeah, it definitely sounded like Mum walked in on the pair of you reading a bible together-’

‘She was just annoyed the door was closed,’ said Ginny firmly.

George snorted. ‘Yeah, that’s why Harry looked so petrified. Just admit it, you were both going at it like garden gnomes.’

Now Ginny’s face was burning and, still not quite believing she was saying this to her own brother, she said stiffly. ‘We actually weren’t doing anything, but when she opened my drawer to put clothes away she found all my moon potions.’

‘Yeah, I know, Harry told me when he was drunk ages ago,’ said George.

She threw another cushion at him - this one hitting him square on the face. ‘Why did you make me say it then?’ she yelled.

‘Because it’s funny!’ He laughed at her, and then, in a spitting impression of their mother, said crossly, ‘well, at least the pair of you are being safe, but Ginny, how could you take my darling Harry’s innocence like that-’

She’d run out of cushions, so she seized the discarded keeper’s glove on the arm of the sofa and lobbed that at him instead.

‘Ow! Those are hard leather!’

At last, there was a movement that sounded like keys in a lock and low voices from the steps to the front door.

‘Harry!’ yelled George. ‘Your psycho girlfriend is up here beating me!’

‘Good!’ came Harry’s response, and then with a rumble of footsteps both he and Ron were in the living room, still in their scarlet auror robes, greeting Ginny with smiles and hugs.

‘Oh, don’t,’ said Ron as she and Harry kissed. ‘You saw each other the other day, you don’t need to-’

‘Where’s Hermione, Ron?’ asked George. ‘Shouldn’t you be kissing your girlfriend too?’

‘She’s at her parents,’ said Ron heavily. ‘I’m going round for lunch tomorrow to meet them properly.’

‘You met in Australia,’ said George, surprised.

‘Yeah, but, you know, they had other things to discuss then.’

Harry looked down at Ginny. ‘I’d cook you something, but you probably don’t want to eat in here, do you?’

‘Not really,’ she admitted. ‘I know this is a boy’s flat, but even for me this is a bit much.’

‘Nah, it’s fine,’ said Ron, easily, moving a dirty plate off the armchair so he could sit. ‘What d’you reckon tonight, George? Pizza?’

‘Yeah, go on then,’ said George, surrounded by pizza boxes. ‘Haven’t had it in a while.’

‘Give me a second,’ Harry said quietly. ‘I’ll change and then we can go somewhere with basic hygiene.’

‘Don’t get all sanctimonious, Potter,’ George cried as Harry headed to his bedroom. ‘You live here too!’

Harry returned within minutes, dressed in jeans and pulling a jacket over his shirt.

‘Enjoy your romantic date,’ said George. ‘Don’t forget your moon potion-’

This time Harry grabbed a discarded newspaper and smacked him with it, while Ron gave a snort that was half amusement, half disgust.

‘Don’t worry, we’ll bring you back some ear plugs,’ Ginny said, and then pulled Harry out of the room before her brother’s howls of outrage could become words.

‘I thought Muggle London would be best,’ said Harry, as they went down the dark stairs to the front door. ‘Less chance of people staring.’

‘I don’t have any Muggle money,’ she said, as they stepped into the warm evening air.

‘That’s all right, we’ll dine and dash,’ he joked.

They walked up Diagon Alley, still thrumming with witches and wizards finishing their shopping or heading out for evening drinks and meals. A few heads turned as they walked past, but Harry had clearly become used to walking so fast, with such purpose, that by the time people had recognised him, he was gone. Ginny almost had to jog to keep up. They went through the Leaky Cauldron, with a nod to Tom the barman, and out onto Charing Cross, still packed with tourists and commuters.

‘So where are we heading?’ she asked him. He smiled at her, and, with a much more normal pace, they walked hand in hand down the Charing Cross Road, by Trafalgar Square, and then down a cobbled street heading towards the Thames, which they walked along for a few minutes, enjoying the scent of caramelized nuts from the little stall they past, and the burst of flowers outside a tube station, and sound of the chatter and laughter of the muggles around them.

She watched the muggles with interest, most of them looking down at their mobile phones or talking loudly into them, many of them collected outside pubs with pints and cigarettes in their hands, some of them jogging past in thin, colourful clothes.

They reached the restaurant, which had views out over the grey river and the south bank, where she could enjoy seeing the boats approach Westminster bridge and, if she leaned, Big Ben.

It was nice seeing Harry so relaxed, unconcerned with the thought that there might be photographers and journalists, or someone even worse, lurking nearby. He told her about the raid that day, how satisfying it had been, how he felt he was getting somewhere with it. She told him about how nervous she was for her Harpies tryout next week, how much she wanted it, and she had drank up his reassurance, bathing in his confidence in her. They laughed over Harry trying mussels for the first time, and she teased him when they ordered more wine, asking if he was going to get up on the table.

‘I thought there was a general agreement to never talk about that?’ he said.

‘I don’t remember signing any such agreement,’ she replied.

It seemed to fly by, and at last they were awaiting their desserts, holding hands over the table. ‘I do hope,’ she said teasingly, ‘that your bedroom isn’t as bad as that living room was.’

He grinned. ‘It’s not great, but it’s not as bad, no.’ His cheekbones tinged pink. ‘You’re sure your mum doesn’t mind you staying over?’

‘I’m of age, and I’m out of school,’ Ginny said firmly. ‘She knows that.’

He seemed to hesitate. ‘But, just one night… Right?’

‘Er…’ She wasn’t really sure how to respond, or what he meant.

‘I just…’ His cheeks were going even redder, and he looked at the dripping candle between them, it’s flame reflecting in his eyes. ‘I was just thinking, now that you’re finished school… How you would feel about leaving the Burrow. And… living… with me.’ His eyes flicked back to hers, his fingers playing softly with her own.

‘Living with you, Ron and George?’ she asked, surprised.

‘Er… No,’ he said hesitantly. ‘No, I don’t think I could survive the teasing if you were there too.’

She grinned. ‘So, just the two of us?’

He nodded. ‘Yeah,’ he said quietly. ‘Some…’

‘Privacy?’ He nodded again. She was thrilled, delighted - the very thing she had been thinking about during her last term, that she had wondered how best to approach, how best to ask, and he had asked first! But there was still… ‘What about George?’ she asked. ‘Because Hermione won’t move in there, and I bet he’ll want to go live with her too, and that would leave George on his own.’

Harry smiled wryly. ‘I don’t think you need to worry about that,’ he said. ‘If you want something to tease him back with… At least you and I remember to cast silencing charms.’

Her jaw dropped. ‘What? Who?’

He grinned, holding back laughter. ‘You won’t believe it.’

‘Are you joking? George? Who? Who’s he shagging? The bastard-’

Now Harry was laughing. ‘Angelina,’ he said at last.

‘Johnson?!’

‘The very same.’ He winced. ‘That was awkward, finding her in the kitchen in the morning. I’d assumed it would be a stranger, but there she was, in his shirt.’

She snorted, her head bowing down over their hands as she laughed. ‘I don’t believe it,’ she said. ‘All that teasing me, and he’s the one dating Fred’s ex…’

The laughter stopped quite suddenly, and she looked up at Harry. ‘Does that… Is that…’

‘I think it’s all right,’ he said reassuringly. ‘We talked about it, actually… I think they bonded over the grief, but I think it had been long enough since Angelina and Fred dated that it isn’t too…’ He tilted his head back and forth, looking for the words.

‘Creepy?’ she suggested.

He smiled. ‘Yeah. It doesn’t feel creepy.’

Ginny smiled too, looking down at their entwined hands. ‘I’m so glad he’s doing OK. I’m glad he had you and Ron with him. And I’m glad he’s found Angelina. She could do a lot better though,’ she added jokingly.

He smiled too, but when she looked up she could see he was blushing again and looked uncomfortable. Then she realised she hadn’t actually answered his question. ‘Oh! Of course I want to move in with you,’ she blurted out. ‘Where do you want to live?’

He beamed at her and seemed to laugh in relief, lifting her hand to kiss it.

She laughed too. ‘You can’t have thought I’d say no?’

‘I dunno,’ he muttered. ‘I’m pretty stupid.’

‘Yes,’ she teased. ‘Clearly. I mean it, where do you want to live?’

‘Somewhere private,’ he said. ‘Where we don’t have to worry about silencing charms.’

‘Very much agreed,’ she replied, leaning forward and kissing him. They only stopped when the waiter awkwardly coughed and set down a chocolate melt and a treacle tart before them.


End file.
